Two men holding replica guns sparked a panic at Paris’ main Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday before they were quickly arrested, sources close to the investigation said.

Passengers were evacuated from Terminal 2 for around 45 minutes after the incident at 8:30 am (0730 GMT).

A passenger raised the alarm after seeing two men “who did not speak French with weapons in a case”, one source said.

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“There was a wave of panic in Terminal 2 when people saw the weapons.”

A police source said border agents had detained the pair, who spoke Russian and did not have police records. One of the men had just landed, and the other was a friend who had come to meet him at the airport.

An airport source said one of the men was French. The second man said he was a Belarusian national with French residency, the source added.

A security perimeter was quickly set up. A bomb squad had already been at the scene dealing with an abandoned bag.

The guns were “airsoft” pistols, replica weapons used for sport.